Cierra Jo McKeown buried five 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 24 points for Walla Walla Community College, as the Warriors started slow before turning it on for the final three quarters of a 77-42 thrashing of Wenatchee Valley in Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball action here on Wednesday.
Hosting Wenatchee on Big Pink Night — the first of two this week — WWCC will contine supporting the fight against cancer as it hosts Big Bend on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. — the first-place Warriors (22-1 overall, 10-0 in the East divison) found themselves trailing, 11-10, after the first quarter.
“We just weren’t focused in the first quarter,” WWCC coach Bobbi Hazeltine said. “Very uncharacteristic of us to come out like that. The second quarter was a little bit better, but we really got on them at halftime because if we’re going to be a really good team we need to play all four quarters.
“I didn’t love our focus in the first quarter — just about everybody,” Hazeltime continued. “We addressed it at halftime, they came out and we played a good second half — especially the third quarter.
“Maybe it was Pink Night, maybe we’re down a little,” she addied. “But we came out in the second half and played well.”
Teresa Acock hit another four 3-pointers for WWCC and finished with 16 points, Jade Skimore added two more 3’s en route to 14 points with a game-high 10 rebounds, and teammate Kortney Hutchinson added 11 points.
“When Cierra’s not making shots, I feel like we kinda panic a little bit,” Hazeltine said. “But she came out in the third quarter, she and Teresa, and lit it up. They shot like they can. That always gives us a boost.
“I thought Jade was better in the second half,” Hazeltine added. “I thought Taylor Turner played a really good game defensively on their girl. It’s a combination of a lot of things.”
WWCC finished the night with its lead in East division standings increasing to three games over second-place Columbia Basin, as the Hawks suffered a 66-59 loss at home to North Idaho.
The Warriors next host a fourth-place Big Bend that defeated Spokane, 76-67, on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen everybody once, and they’ve seen us, so we’ve got to come out the second time around and be ready for everybody’s best game,” Hazeltine said. “Everybody’s gunning for us, so we’ve got to be ready for that. It didn’t look like we were ready (tonight), but I think that was a wake up call — the first quarter anyway. We’re going to be focused from now on.”
Warriors 77, Knights 42
WENATCHEE VALLEY (42) — Burgess 10, Chimburas 9, Odima 8, Watts 3, Creighton 3, Uschmann 3, Jones-Frost 2, Houser 2, Henning 2.
WALLA WALLA COMMUNITY COLLEGE (77) — McKeown 24, Acock 16, Skidmore 14, Hutchinson 11, Peralez 3, Lyon 3, Turner 2, Bowen 2, Dietrich-Denton 2.
Wenatchee1181211—42
Walla Walla10212323—77
3-point goals — Wenatchee 1, Walla Walla 12. Total fouls — Wenatchee 12, Walla Walla 16. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Wenatchee 40, Walla Walla 49. Turnovers — Wenatchee 17, Walla Walla 13. Assists — Wenatchee 3, Walla Walla 14.
Union Bulletin
